AP PhotoPresident Barack Obama, center, during his guest appearance on ABC's television show "The View" in New York, Wednesday, July 28, 2010.

President Barack Obama is visiting Detroit tomorrow to highlight progress made at General Motors and Chrysler since their government-assisted bankruptcies, but he gave the ladies at "The View" a bit of a preview in an interview that aired today.

"You now have all those U.S. auto companies showing a profit," he told Barbara Walters and cohosts. "They've rehired 55,000 workers. We are going to get back all the money that we invested in those car companies."

A White House spokesman quickly told the Detroit Free Press the president was not referring to the full $86 billion spent by the Obama and Bush administrations, and The Detroit News suggested Obama only was discussing the $60 billion portion his administration invested in the company's restructuring.

Regardless, it was a sign of confidence he's likely to echo tomorrow when he'll tour General Motors' Detroit-Hamtrack factory where the Chevrolet Volt is being assembled and speak at Chrysler's Jefferson North plant.

The White House released a report Thursday indicating the failure to rescue GM and Chrysler would have led to the loss of nearly 1.1 million jobs. The auto industry has added 55,000 jobs in the year since the automotive bankruptcies, making it the strongest year of job growth in the industry since 1999.